GENERATIONAL BLESSINGS

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known your faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 89:1. There is much teaching about the effects of negative generational covenants. There is also teaching on generational curses. These teachings are necessary to help us address the problems in our lives traceable to demonic generational transfers. My book “Spirits of Inheritance” deals with the subject in an in-depth manner. Other authors have also written on the subject. However, there is another side of the coin which we need to explore. God does not merely save us from certain things, but He has saved us for the purpose of releasing us into far greater and better things. The work of salvation must lead into the benefits of redemption. For instance, when God saved Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, they were ecstatic. However, God made them realize that as long as they remained in the wilderness, they had not entered their rest. The essence of their deliverance from Egypt was to take them into the land flowing with milk and honey. Though they enjoyed the manna, quails and miraculous water in the wilderness, the best of God for them was Canaan. The Wilderness What was the difference between the wilderness and the Promised Land? The wilderness at best was naturally hostile. The land in the wilderness yielded thorns and thistles. Israel would have had to sweat and labour hard to get any produce from the wilderness. The wilderness was dry and arid, water was scarce. If anyone tried digging a well in the wilderness, it would be an uphill task. Furthermore, there were no houses, fences or defences in the wilderness. They were exposed or open to the harassment of the elements, reptiles and any terrible thing that chanced to come their way. The time Israel spent in the wilderness was unsettling. It was a time when even on the best of days, there was unease because anything could go wrong. They needed spectacular interventions of God to get by. God rained down manna from heaven daily to feed them. God provided water from the rock for them and rained quails to provide them meat. Also, the pillar of fire by night, and the pillar of cloud by day were needed to take care of the elements. These were spectacular miracles of God intervening in the wilderness. Many times Israel grumbled, murmured and complained. Moses who was more spiritually mature had to keep seeking the face of God on behalf of Israel for God to do these spectacular things. Those who grumbled because they did not have Moses’ kind of faith found themselves at the receiving end of judgment. The Promised Land The Promised Land on the other hand presented a different kind of picture. The children of Israel were to drink from ready-made wells, which they did not dig. They could dig more wells. They were to eat from fruitful vineyards they did not plant and could even plant more if they so desired. They were to live in houses and superb cities that they did not build. They could also build better ones from the resources of the land. The Promised Land was a land flowing with milk and honey. Survival in the Promised Land was not intended or designed to be a struggle. Getting the best out of life was to be the most natural thing to them. They were designed to get maximum output from minimum input. The land was blessed, and more than that, the land was to be a blessing to them. The Wilderness versus The Promised Land Many who do not understand the depths of the dealings of God with Israel and its lessons have always expressed their preference for the spectacular displays of God’s power in the wilderness. However, we see God showing us that the seeming unspectacular way He provided for and blessed Israel in the Promised Land was a bigger miracle. It may not have had the spectacular flavor of God’s wilderness provisions, yet the fact remains that God gave Israel the Promised Land so that they would live a miracle all their lives. Actually, the blessings were to come so easily that it was possible for them to forget that it was the miraculous provision of God. Yet it was. It was the blessings of the covenant of God with their fathers. (See Deuteronomy 8:1-end). Note that in the wilderness, Israel needed the greatness of the faith and anointing on Moses’ life to get spectacular miracles from God. Imagine if there was no Moses in the wilderness to bring help and deliverance from God again and again! However, in the Promised Land, they did not need the services of a spiritual giant (deliverance minister) like Moses. The miracle of daily blessings was at the disposal of everybody, both those with “big faith” and those with “mustard seed faith.” It was not by power or might. It flowed without struggle. Something bigger and greater than the nation was at work. It was the covenant God made with their fathers to bless the fathers and their children after them. The blessing came “sweatlessly” such that it could be mistaken as ordinary. Nevertheless, the miracle of it was that it was sustained by a covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs of the nation. Something they did not originate traceable to their previous generations was at work in them for good. They were enjoying generational blessings. Understanding Generational Blessings Generational blessings are received by inheritance and passed on from one generation to another. The issue of inheritance is easy to understand in our physical or material world. A parent can leave an inheritance of land, cars or houses for his children. Even unseen things can be inherited. For instance, a child can benefit immensely from the goodwill of the parent. People can be favourably disposed to that child not because of anything the child has done, but because of the child’s parentage. A child can also suffer adversity if the parent had a bad reputation. Reputation or goodwill is not physically tangible, but it causes society to respond to a person one way or the other. In the same way, it is possible for people to derive benefits from God that run within their lineage as a result of the special relationships or covenants their parents made with God. It causes the realm of the spirit to be favourably disposed towards them Generational blessings proceed from God to a person and onto the person’s descendants as a result of that person’s covenant relationship with God. For instance, if David enters into a covenant relationship with God and faithfully keeps the covenant, he can through performance of required covenant actions open the way for the blessing of God to flow to his descendants. In this instance, the blessings come on the descendants not necessarily because they merit it, but because of the goodness and faithfulness of God to David who entered into a covenant with God. David has sowed seeds by his covenant actions from which his descendants reap the fruit of blessings which flow directly from the covenant. Caution: This principle should not be misunderstood. Faith is not by inheritance; neither can we inherit the righteousness of our relatives. However, the faithfulness of God often manifests in God extending blessings to the descendants of those who walk with him. God’s primary purpose for blessing a person’s descendants is simply to keep faith with the parent. Therefore, the blessings which flow to the descendants is regarded by God as an act of God’s own righteousness and faithfulness to the parent with whom God had entered into a covenant. However, it is usual for a person who is raised in an atmosphere of faith to imbibe faith through the diligent nurture of faithful parents as was Timothy. See 2 Timothy 1:5.